This review may contain spoilers
Movie with rich storyline and characters
So, I had this movie on my watch list for a long time (since it's release), not knowing anything about the story and never had the time to watch it in one go. I even considered it watching in chunks while riding the subway on my way to work.
Well, I'm glad I didn't. I finally got the time on christmas day and the invested time was worth it. After the first couple of minutes I also had to look twice, since I clearly didn't expect Kim Yoo-Jung in the main role, but I was even happier after my mind accepted it was true, since I really like her. The story then proceeded and I was on an emotional rollercoaster - I did go through all emotions the story presented. I was once again catched off guard after the major plot twist. Up till then, I believed it was an easy school romance story line but well - it was not. Once I swallowed the twist, the story then was easy going till the end.
So, in general: I liked this movie. Does it have flaws? Yes, it has. My main critique is the changed actress for Na Bo-Ra in the two timelines. Even though I do understand, that Kim Yoo-Jung is rather young and probably not suited to play a mid to end 30-year old women and maybe even can't depict the cool-headed and distanced emotions Han Hyo-Joo can, I would have just loved her to see it in that role. I see two reasons for that:
a.) Kim Yoo-Jung had more than 95% screentime of all Na Bo-Ra scenes, so it feels kinda ungrateful, that she can't do the last 5%
b.) It would be a huge chance for her, since she mostly played air-head, short-tempered characters, and I would have loved her to see and expand her acting spectrum with a different role, and these 5% would have been a great and forgiving possibility.
So, the change of the lead actress makes the end worse than it could be. For 1:45 hours or so I felt with Na Bo-Ra, because Kim Yoo-Jung did a great job. But then, from one scene to the next (and only for the last minutes) I have to connect with a different actress? That's not cool. If the switch would have been done after 1h or so, it wouldn't have been such a great issue.
Otherwise, the story was well written. All actors did a great job depicting their specific character. All of them felt alive and important for the story. None was expendable.
To sum it up, I rate it as 10/10 personally, but it should have been a 9.5 due to the changed actress.
Well, I'm glad I didn't. I finally got the time on christmas day and the invested time was worth it. After the first couple of minutes I also had to look twice, since I clearly didn't expect Kim Yoo-Jung in the main role, but I was even happier after my mind accepted it was true, since I really like her. The story then proceeded and I was on an emotional rollercoaster - I did go through all emotions the story presented. I was once again catched off guard after the major plot twist. Up till then, I believed it was an easy school romance story line but well - it was not. Once I swallowed the twist, the story then was easy going till the end.
So, in general: I liked this movie. Does it have flaws? Yes, it has. My main critique is the changed actress for Na Bo-Ra in the two timelines. Even though I do understand, that Kim Yoo-Jung is rather young and probably not suited to play a mid to end 30-year old women and maybe even can't depict the cool-headed and distanced emotions Han Hyo-Joo can, I would have just loved her to see it in that role. I see two reasons for that:
a.) Kim Yoo-Jung had more than 95% screentime of all Na Bo-Ra scenes, so it feels kinda ungrateful, that she can't do the last 5%
b.) It would be a huge chance for her, since she mostly played air-head, short-tempered characters, and I would have loved her to see and expand her acting spectrum with a different role, and these 5% would have been a great and forgiving possibility.
So, the change of the lead actress makes the end worse than it could be. For 1:45 hours or so I felt with Na Bo-Ra, because Kim Yoo-Jung did a great job. But then, from one scene to the next (and only for the last minutes) I have to connect with a different actress? That's not cool. If the switch would have been done after 1h or so, it wouldn't have been such a great issue.
Otherwise, the story was well written. All actors did a great job depicting their specific character. All of them felt alive and important for the story. None was expendable.
To sum it up, I rate it as 10/10 personally, but it should have been a 9.5 due to the changed actress.
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